He’s worked in the store’s camping department for many years and enjoys geocaching with his daughter. To learn more about benchmarking and geocaching, the more technical name is “geolocating,” we turned to Dave Kepler of Woolwich. The hidden caches could be almost anywhere from a park to deep in the wilderness. Teams hide everyday objects or packages of items someplace, then list its geographic coordinates for others to seek out and find.Ī number of websites exist listing geocache locations in Maine and elsewhere. Removing or in any way altering a benchmark is prohibited by law.īenchmarking grew out of another outdoor activity called geocaching, a high-tech scavenger hunt relying on handheld GPS units and satellite positioning. There are a number of websites devoted to the hobby. They often include directions for others who might enjoy searching for it. Typically, when benchmark hunters find one, they usually photograph it and post the picture online. As to their purpose, without getting too technical, benchmarks serve as sort of starting points for surveyors and mapmakers. They were placed in hundreds of thousands of locations across the country by the teams from the National Geodetic Survey, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Many of these survey markers were set close to a hundred years ago, during the years from 1930 to 1950. It’s a mystery why the government surveyors chose to do this. It’s quite unusual to find three benchmarks at one location. There are three benchmarks there, all dated 1934. Many benchmarks are in plain sight but finding others can be pretty challenging.Įasy to find are the ones located alongside Wiscasset’s historic Powder House, the little brick building that sits on a stone outcropping overlooking Churchill Street. The hobby gained new popularity with the arrival of handheld GPS devices.īefore these amazing devices were widely available, benchmark hunters had to rely on topographic maps, a compass and coordinates supplied by the government. Hunting benchmarks, or “benchmarking” as it’s called, isn’t a new activity it’s been around since the mid-1990s. Coast & Geodetic Survey.” They turn up in the most unlikely places, from deep in the woods to city streets to rocky peaks. Some people enjoy spending a day outdoors at the beach, others by playing a round of golf then there are those who spend their leisure time embarking on quests to find benchmarks, a hobby akin to geocaching.īenchmarks, more commonly called survey markers, are 3-inch wide bronze discs pegged to the ground, dated and stamped: “U.S.
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